FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of processing a spent nuclear reactor fuel to recover uranium, plutonium, transuranium element or the like, and in particular, relates to a processing method of a spent reactor fuel which is preferably applicable to the case of processing a spent reactor fuel in which a metallic nuclear fuel material is covered with an alloy cladding tube (material) having a melting point lower than that of the metallic nuclear fuel material and end plugs made of alloy are mounted to both ends of the reactor fuel.
In the case of processing a spent reactor fuel in which a metallic nuclear fuel material is covered with an alloy cladding tube having a melting point lower than that of the metallic nuclear fuel material and alloy end plugs are mounted to both ends of the reactor fuel, in the known art, there has been publicly known a method comprising the processes or steps of, cutting and separating both ends thereof to mechanically remove the cladding tube, dissolving only metallic nuclear fuel material in nitric acid, and separating and extracting uranium and plutonium according to a solvent extraction so that soluble uranium and plutonium are obtained.
However, a metallic nuclear fuel component still adheres to the both ends of fuel cut and separated according to the aforesaid conventional method, or to the cladding tube mechanically removed. For this reason, if these fuel and cladding tube are processed as wastes, this is a factor of lowering a recovery of metallic nuclear fuel component.